Yea I got a bit queasy on that thought. On Tue, Aug 3, 2010 at 4:04 AM, Martin Baxter <[email protected]>wrote:
> > > Is anyone else cringing at the thought that he watches Faux/Fixed/Fox by > day? > > On Mon, Aug 2, 2010 at 10:03 PM, brent wodehouse < > [email protected]> wrote: > >> >> >> http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/08/02/Bradbury/ >> >> Sci-fi legend Ray Bradbury on God, 'monsters and angels' >> >> By John Blake, CNN >> >> August 2, 2010 >> >> (CNN) -- Ray Bradbury lives in a rambling Los Angeles home full of stuffed >> dinosaurs, a tin robot pushing an ice cream cart, and a life-sized >> Bullwinkle the Moose doll lounging in a cushioned chair. >> >> The 89-year-old science fiction author watches Fox News Channel by day, >> Turner Classic Movies by night. He spends the rest of his time summoning >> "the monsters and angels" of his imagination for his enchanting tales. >> >> Bradbury's imagination has yielded classic books such as "Fahrenheit 451," >> "The Martian Chronicles" and 600 short stories that predicted everything >> from the emergence of ATMs to live broadcasts of fugitive car chases. >> >> Bradbury, who turns 90 this month, says he will sometimes open one of his >> books late at night and cry out thanks to God. >> >> "I sit there and cry because I haven't done any of this," he told Sam >> Weller, his biographer and friend. "It's a God-given thing, and I'm so >> grateful, so, so grateful. The best description of my career as a writer >> is, 'At play in the fields of the Lord.' " >> >> Bradbury's stories are filled with references to God and faith, but he's >> rarely talked at length about his religious beliefs, until now. >> >> 'Joy is the grace we say to God' >> >> He describes himself as a "delicatessen religionist." He's inspired by >> Eastern and Western religions. >> >> The center of his faith, though, is love. Everything -- the reason he >> decided to write his first short story at 12; his 56-year marriage to his >> muse and late wife, Maggie; his friendships with everyone from Walt Disney >> to Alfred Hitchcock -- is based on love. >> >> Bradbury is in love with love. >> >> Once, when he saw Walt Disney, architect of the Magic Kingdom, Christmas >> shopping in Los Angeles, Bradbury approached him and said: "Mr. Disney, my >> name is Ray Bradbury and I love you." >> >> Bradbury's favorite book in the Bible is the Gospel of John, which is >> filled with references to love. >> >> "At the center of religion is love," Bradbury says from his home, which is >> painted dandelion yellow in honor of his favorite book, "Dandelion Wine." >> >> "I love you and I forgive you. I am like you and you are like me. I love >> all people. I love the world. I love creating. ... Everything in our life >> should be based on love." >> >> Bradbury's voice booms with enthusiasm over the phone. He now uses a >> wheelchair. His hearing has deteriorated. But he talks like an excitable >> kid with an old man's voice. (Each Christmas, Bradbury asked his wife to >> give him toys in place of any other gifts.) >> >> Weller, author of "[ http://listentotheechoes.com/ ]Listen to The Echoes: >> The Ray Bradbury Interviews," says Bradbury ends many conversations with >> "God bless." Weller's book devotes an entire chapter to Bradbury's faith. >> >> "I once asked him if he prayed, and he said, 'Joy is the grace we say to >> God,' '' Weller says. >> >> Bradbury was raised as a Baptist in Waukegan, Illinois, by his father, a >> utility lineman, and his mother, a housewife. Both were infrequent >> churchgoers. >> >> His family moved to Los Angeles during the Great Depression to look for >> work. When he turned 14, Bradbury began visiting Catholic churches, >> synagogues and charismatic churches on his own to figure out his faith. >> >> Bradbury has been called a Unitarian, but he rejects that term. He >> dislikes labels of any kind. >> >> "I'm a Zen Buddhist if I would describe myself," he says. "I don't think >> about what I do. I do it. That's Buddhism. I jump off the cliff and build >> my wings on the way down." >> >> Examples of faith in Bradbury's stories >> >> Bradbury started writing for pulp magazines like "Weird Tales" and >> "Thrilling Wonder Stories" at the beginning of his career. But even then, >> faith was an important theme. >> >> In his 1949 story "The Man," Bradbury tells the story of a rocket crew >> landing on Mars, only to see their thunder taken by a Christ-like figure >> who had arrived only hours earlier. >> >> In subsequent stories such as "Bless Me, Father, For I Have Sinned," >> priests and other ordinary people search and find redemption. >> >> Allusions to Christianity are common in his stories, but Bradbury doesn't >> define himself as a Christian. He considers Jesus a wise prophet, like >> Buddha and Confucius. >> >> "Jesus is a remarkable person," Bradbury says. "He was on his way to >> becoming Christ, and he made it." >> >> Weller, also author of "[ http://www.bradburychronicles.com/index.htm]The >> Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury," says Bradbury's religious >> antenna is most attuned to Christianity. >> >> "The guy keeps writing about Jesus, but he doesn't consider himself a >> Christian," Weller says. >> >> "He says faith is necessary but that we should accept the fact that when >> it comes to God, none of us know anything." >> >> The Rev. Calvin Miller, author of the New Testament novels "The Singer >> Trilogy," sees an optimism in Bradbury's stories that's reflected in the >> Judeo-Christian belief that there will be a "new heaven and a new Earth" >> one day. >> >> Miller once wrote an essay about Bradbury's "Christian positivism," titled >> "Hope in a Doubtful Age," that was published in "Christianity Today," an >> evangelical magazine. >> >> After the essay appeared, Miller says, he was sorting through mail at home >> when he noticed two thank-you letters from Bradbury -- one written when >> the author was headed to Paris for vacation and another when he arrived. >> >> The following Christmas, Miller says, he received something else from >> Bradbury. >> >> "Every Christmas afterward, he sent me a card," Miller says. "I guess the >> religious implications of the article meant a lot to him." >> >> Will space travel destroy our belief in God? >> >> The religious implications of space travel also mean much to Bradbury. >> >> Bradbury has been a relentless supporter of space exploration. Ascending >> to the heavens won't destroy God; it'll reinforce belief, he says. >> >> "We're moving more toward God," he says. "We're moving toward more proofs >> of his creation in other worlds he's created in other parts of the >> universe. Space travel will increase our belief in God." >> >> As he approaches the end of his journey, Bradbury is still conjuring his >> monsters and angels. His latest book, "Summer Morning, Summer Night," was >> released last month. >> >> Many of his best friends, though, are not around to read him anymore. >> >> "My personal telephone book is a book of the dead now," Bradbury told >> Weller in his book of interviews. "I'm so old. Almost all of my friends >> have died, and I don't have the guts to take their names out of the book." >> >> Bradbury is also concerned about something beyond his own mortality: >> humanity's survival. >> >> Space travel and religion seek the same goal -- immortality, Bradbury >> says. If humanity remains on Earth, it is doomed because someday the sun >> will either explode or flame out. >> >> Everyone -- not just the characters in his story -- must eventually >> explore the stars, he says. >> >> "We must move into the universe. Mankind must save itself. We must escape >> the danger of war and politics. We must become astronauts and go out into >> the universe and discover the God in ourselves." >> >> > > > -- > "If all the world's a stage and we are merely players, who the bloody hell > wrote the script?" -- Charles E Grant > > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQUxw9aUVik > > > > -- Celebrating 10 years of bringing diversity to perversity! Mahogany at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mahogany_pleasures_of_darkness/
